Board holder support device for a materials handling and lifting appliance

ABSTRACT

A support device for a materials handling and lifting appliance of boards or panels including a mast, a board or panel holder support frame a pedestal and a support base articulated on the pedestal. The pedestal fits on an end of the mast, and the support frame is positioned on the support base in its mounted position. The pedestal has a U-shaped section that accommodates, between its side pieces, a first hinge pin that ensures articulation of the support base and a second pin on which there is a freely swiveling pawl that swivels into its locked position due to the distribution of its mass. The pawl has a head that forms a hook intended to cooperate with and fit around a third pin forming a finger that protrudes the support base, a straight rear surface forming a limit stop for said finger when the pawl is unlocked, and a control lever an end of which has an unbalanced shape.

The invention relates to the technical field of materials handling andlifting appliances that can be used in the construction industry inorder to offer up boards made of any material in order to buildsuspended ceilings or fit them under the slope of a roof and onpartition walls.

For many years, the Applicant has developed appliances of this type thatare intended to hold rectangular-shaped plasterboards or plaster panelsor boards and panels made of other materials having large dimensions asmuch as 3 m or more in length and which are therefore very heavy. Theseboards, thanks to appliances of the above-mentioned type, are thenoffered up horizontally thanks to a winch mechanism and by means oftilting, so that they can be fixed to the ceiling that is to be covered.Appliances have been developed on the basis of the teaching of PatentsFR 2,758,150, 2,780,428 and 2,862,682. In particular, in FIGS. 1, 2 and3, the latter patent makes provision for using a fixed support sectionwhich is offset relative to the mast part and accommodates at its end ameans of articulating the device that holds the board or panel, saiddevice including a support base capable of tilting from a horizontallocked position into a vertical one that corresponds to loading thepanel or board holder or fitting them on an inclined surface.

The appliances that are the subject of the above-mentioned patents areextensively operated by the Applicant with considerable commercialsuccess.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a device for articulating the board or panel holderwhich is articulated relative to a fixed horizontal section (1) that isattached to the upper end of the mast (2) of the appliance. This devicecomprises a support base (3) having a very wide flat upper wall with aU-shaped yoke (4) that is used for support and attachment to frame (5)of the board holder and/or panel holder. A control arm (6) is joined tothe support base and controls the articulation and positioning of thedevice relative to the mast. Means of locking using control handle (7)and lock bolt (8) lock and unlock swiveling of the support base. Inaddition, the support base has an opening (3 a) for a finger (9) forpositioning and locking the board or panel in its limit position.

This implementation is, however, expensive to manufacture and assemble.The lock bolt device, in a classic lock configuration, has to be fittedand this involves additional cost and extra interventions andoperations.

The approach adopted by the Applicant was therefore to attempt to makemanufacture of these materials handling and lifting appliances forboards or panels more efficient, especially the main part of theappliance, namely that which includes the device for articulating andoffering up the panels, without compromising satisfactory operation ofthe appliance.

The Applicant was also interested in the optimizing and manufacturingthe materials handling and lifting appliance so that it offered otherfunctions that meet needs during operation of the appliances on site.

In fact, it was observed that the board support frame was loaded on thedevice for orienting the boards and panels on a trial-and-error basis.The board support frame is hung and guided on the U-shaped yoke sectionon the upper surface of the articulation support base. To achieve this,in order to fit the panel/board support frame, the operator often pushesthe control lever of the appliance against his shoulder so that he cansee placement of the frame. This pressure is therefore applied obliquelyand the operator has both hands free in order to ensure positioning.This procedure and operation is therefore not very practical.

The attempt to optimize the appliance developed by the Applicanttherefore involved integrating this particular aspect in order to makethe operator's interventions and operations even easier. The Applicant'spriority was to design the appliance to ensure easiest possible use ofthe appliance on site.

These objects and others will become apparent from the followingdescription.

According to a first aspect, the support device for board and panelholder for a materials handling and lifting appliance of the typecomprising a mast at the end of which there is a means of support thatarticulatedly accommodates a board support frame is distinctive in thatit comprises a U-shaped pedestal that accommodates, between its sidepieces, two hinge pins, a first pin that ensures articulation of thesupport base on which the board or panel support frame is positioned,and a second pin on which there is a pawl that swivels freely due to thedistribution of its mass, said pawl having a head that forms a hook inorder to cooperate with and fit around a pin forming a finger thatprotrudes from the support base, a straight rear surface forming a limitstop and a control lever, the end of which is shaped like an unbalancingmass.

The object of the present invention is described, merely by way ofexample, in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of the support head of a boardholder device suitable for a materials handling and lifting appliance ofthe prior art as described in the Applicant's cited patents.

FIG. 2 is a partial enlarged view of the head in FIG. 1, showing its usewith a locking device.

FIG. 3 is a partial view that supplements FIG. 1 and shows adaptation ofthe support head for accommodating the board holder device.

FIG. 4 is a view of a materials handling and lifting appliance fittedwith the board holder device according to the invention.

FIG. 5 is a large-scale view of the device according to the inventionfitted on the appliance in FIG. 4 in its opened, raised position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the means of locking in the form of apawl.

FIG. 7 is a large-scale partial top view similar to FIG. 5, but with adifferent perspective in order to clearly show the layout of the deviceaccording to the invention when the device is in its opened position.

FIG. 8 shows the device in isolation in its closed position whichcorresponds to offering up panels or boards horizontally.

FIG. 9 is a partial view of the board holder device according to theinvention when the board or panel support frame is engaged.

FIG. 10 is a large-scale view, as in FIG. 9, showing the positioning ofthe locking pawl in this operational phase.

FIG. 11 is a view that supplements FIG. 9 after engagement of the boardor panel support frame when the pawl is in its locked position.

FIG. 12 is an additional partial view that illustrates a particularfunction of the pawl in terms of the board support frame's non-returnsafety.

FIG. 13 is a large-scale view of the device shown in the circle in FIG.12.

FIG. 14 is an alternative implementation of the invention where theboard or panel support beam or frame is welded to the support base. Inthis Figure, the device is shown when the board support frame is tilted.

FIG. 15 is a view that supplements FIG. 14 showing the assembly in itsclosed horizontal position.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, thefollowing description is given, merely by way of example, referencebeing made to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 4, the materials handling and lifting appliance forboards or panels intended to be fitted in ceilings or on walls isreferred to in its entirety as (A) and its base is provided, in anyappropriate manner, with means of rolling (R), means of gripping (B) andcable control in order to deploy, telescopically or not, the componentsof mast (2). The extreme upper part of the mast accommodates device (D)of the invention on which the board or panel holder support frame (5)rests and is attached either removably or permanently by welding. Themast may also make it possible to attach receptacle (P) in order toposition a portable electric tool or other equipment needed by theoperator.

The board or panel holder device according to the invention can be usedwith materials handling and lifting appliances of any design and therepresentation shown in FIG. 4 is therefore provided merely to make iteasier to understand the device.

In FIGS. 5 to 15, the board holder device (D) was designed and built tofulfill various functions that will be explained below. More especially,the device comprises, starting from the end of the mast, a U-shapedpedestal (10) attached to the mast by its bottom (10 a) by welding oranother method and is positioned horizontally with its exposed surfacefacing upwards. Between its parallel, vertical side pieces (10 b-10 c)there are two hinge pins (11-12), one (11) to the rear and the other(12) to the front part of the pedestal. Pin (11), conventionally,enables articulation of support base (13) on which board or panel holdersupport frame (5) is directly or indirectly mounted. In the version inFIGS. 5 to 13, the support base is designed so that its upper surfacehas a yoke shape (4) forming a separately mounted slider and is fixed inany appropriate way and delimits a slot (4 a) allowing sliding ofsupport base (5), the lower profile of which has a matching design. Asappropriate, the yoke can accommodate support base (5) in two positionsthat are 90° apart, one position allowing so-called horizontal fittingon ceilings and the other position allowing so-called tilted fittingunder the slope of a roof. In the version in FIGS. 14, 15, the supportbase accommodates the support frame which is permanently attached bywelding or an equivalent method. Support base (13) is, according to theinvention, made in the form of a U-shaped section with side pieces (13a-13 b) mounted on pin (11) and inserted into the internal space betweenside pieces (10 b-10 c) of pedestal (10). Said base also accommodates afixed pin (14) that protrudes to one side and is mounted between saidside pieces (13 a-13 b) with the protruding part (14 a) acting as afinger. One end (15 a) of an L-shaped control handle (15) is attached tosaid support base by welding or an equivalent method whereas the partthat is to be gripped (15 b) is in a plane that is at right angles toand opposite the operator. The front part of pedestal (10) accommodatesa pin (12) on which a pawl (16) having an extremely distinctive profileis articulatedly mounted. This pawl is mounted on pin (12) slightlyoff-centered to ensure unbalance so that it tends to make a swivelingmovement. At the end that is inside pedestal (10), said pawl has a head(16 a) shaped like a hook (16 b) that faces towards its other end (16c). The rear surface (16 d) of the head is straight and located in aplane that is perpendicular to the horizontal bottom of the pedestal andto the horizontal bottom surface of the support base when the latter islowered. Head (16 a) of the pawl is sufficiently tall to protrude fromthe horizontal plane of the support base when the pawl hooks on finger(14 a) in order to provide a limit stop surface for the frame thatsupports the panels or boards to be fitted, regardless of theorientation of support base (5) in slot (4 a) of yoke (4). Head (16 a)has, beyond its rear surface, an upper part (16 e) with a curved shapethat constitutes a support surface under circumstances that will beexplained below. The pawl has an opening (16 f) in order to fit it onpin (12). The other end of this pawl, beyond the hinge pin, has acontrol lever shape with an unbalanced mass (16 g) that, when it is notactuated, encourages the pawl to swivel forward due to its massdistribution, thereby acting as a counterweight. The bottom surface ofthe pedestal has a clearance gap (10 d) that allows articulation of thelever, swiveling and clearance through said bottom surface.

The various functions of the device are explained below. Boards orpanels can be loaded on the support frame in complete safety eitherafter swiveling the support base so that it is horizontal and locking itin position or by pressing on finger (14 a) on the shaped head of thepawl. In the first case, due to the weight of the support frame, thepawl is swiveled backwards to allow hooking on finger (14 a). The pawlreturns to its locked position because of its unbalance.

Panels or boards can be fitted very easily and quickly by a doubleaction on the part of the operator, firstly unlocking the pawl byraising it by its gripping part and secondly by orienting the carryingarm associated with the support base. Orienting the device makes itpossible to offer up the board or panels to be positioned in completesafety. Unlike previously, there is no longer any need for the operatorto position the carrying arm so that it presses against his shoulder inorder to ensure positioning of the board or panel support frame. Thepawl ensures, by means of its various positions, locking of the supportbase, non-return limit stopping of the board support frame and support,if applicable, for the support base in its tilted position on the otherpart of the pawl acting as a rest or allowing slanting loading.

The solution devised by the Applicant is simple and achieves asubstantial reduction in manufacturing and assembly costs. Operation issimplified and there is no longer any risk of the lock bolt jamming asit previously could.

The solution according to the invention is viable regardless of themanner in which the support frame is positioned and attached.

1. A support device for a materials handling and lifting appliance forboards or panels comprising: a mast, a board or panel holder supportframe, a pedestal and a support base articulated on said pedestal, saidpedestal being adapted to mount on an end of said mast, the supportframe being positioned on the mounted support base wherein said pedestalcomprises a U-shaped section that accommodates, between side pieces ofsaid section, a first hinge pin that facilitates articulation of saidsupport base and a second hinge pin on which a freely swiveling pawlswivels into a locked position due to distribution of mass of the pawl,said pawl having: a head that forms a hook to cooperate with and fitaround a third fixed pin forming a finger that protrudes from thesupport base, a straight rear surface forming a limit stop for saidsupport frame when the pawl is unlocked and a control lever having anend that has an unbalanced shape.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1,wherein a bottom of said pedestal is attached to the mast and thepedestal is located horizontally with an exposed surface facing upwardsin a position of use, said first and second hinge pins are locatedbetween parallel, vertical side pieces of said pedestal, said first pinis located to a rear and said second pin is located to a front of thepedestal, said support base being in a form of a U-shaped section withside pieces fitted on said first pin and inserted into a space betweenthe side pieces of the pedestal, said support base accommodating saidthird fixed pin that has a protruding part to one side and is fittedbetween said side pieces of the support base, the protruding part of thethird pin acting as the finger.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1,further comprising an L-shaped control handle with one end attached tosaid support base and a part that is to be gripped is in a plane that isat right angles to and opposite an operator.
 4. A device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a front part of the pedestal accommodates said secondpin on which said freely articulated pawl is off-centered to ensureunbalance so that the pawl tends to make a swiveling movement, an end ofsaid pawl that is inside the pedestal having said head in the shape of ahook facing opposite an other end and said rear surface of the headbeing straight and positioned in a plane that is perpendicular to ahorizontal bottom of the pedestal and to a horizontal bottom surface ofthe support base, said head of the pawl being sufficiently tall toprotrude from a horizontal plane of the support base when the pawl hookson the finger of said third pin in order to constitute a limit stopsurface for the support framed.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 4,wherein the head has, beyond said rear surface, an upper part with acurved shape that constitutes a support surface.
 6. A device as claimedin claim 4, wherein the pawl has an opening for fitting the pawl on saidsecond pin.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein a bottom surfaceof the pedestal has a clearance gap that allows articulation of thelever, swiveling and clearance through said bottom surface.